Energy and Economic Growth: Research and Matchmaking Conference

On November 3rd and 4th, 2016, the CSIS Energy & National Security Program hosted the Applied Research Programme on Energy and Economic Growth (EEG) for its Research & Matchmaking Conference. The EEG program is a collaborative effort being implemented by the Oxford Policy Management (OPM), the Energy Institute at Haas School of Business and the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) both at the University of California – Berkeley and funded by UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The conference solicited feedback from policymakers and practitioners on the development of 18 State-of-Knowledge papers being written in the first year and engaged experts and policymakers from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia on topics of critical importance to the energy sector. The two-day event featured keynote talks by EEG Research Director Catherine Wolfram (Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley), Mo Qayoumi (Chief Advisor to the President of Afghanistan on Infrastructure and Technology), Todd Moss (Center for Global Development), and Harold Wilhite (University of Oslo). 

Research and policy panels addressed each of the following six EEG Themes:

Theme 1: The linkages between electricity supply and economic growth
Theme 2: The financial and policy instruments that encourage the development (and better utilisation) of appropriate large-scale power infrastructure
Theme 3: Electricity supply and energy efficiency measures in supporting sustainable urbanisation
Theme 4: Constraints in the Use of Large-Scale Renewable Energy Sources or Greener Energy Sources
Theme 5: An improved understanding of the role of extractives in electricity/energy provision and sustainable development
Theme 6: The barriers and opportunities for innovative and appropriate design of larger-scale centralised energy infrastructure 

The conference brought a diverse group of roughly 90 participants -- including leading researchers working on energy (including EEG Thematic Leads and State-of-Knowledge paper authors), policymakers and practitioners from the EEG focal regions of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, representatives of bilateral and multilateral development banks, and the EEG Programme Directorate.

Visit the EEG website for more information and to download the draft papers.